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Information technology (IT) infrastructure capability has been increasingly recognized as vital for large multibusiness companies adapting to environmental dynamics (Fink & Neumann, 2007; Weill, Broadbent, & Subramani, 2002). With appropriate IT infrastructure capability, a company can effectively adapt to market changes (Broadbent, Weill, & Neo, 1999; Chung, Rainer, & Lewis, 2003; Duncan, 1995). According to Miles and Snow (1978), this adaptation can be treated as a kind of management of innovation practices that aligns products/services (or market) domain and IT used. Under an information intensive environment, such practices are generally viewed as typical business strategy that should have appropriate IT infrastructure capability to gain competitiveness (Blumentritt & Danis, 2006; Broadbent et al., 1999; Miles & Snow, 1978; Tallon, 2003).
IT infrastructure capability can be a company resource and potential distinctive competence that is difficult to imitate, requiring complementarity and cospecialization of human and technical assets (Barney, 1991; Broadbent et al., 1999). It can be considered a strategic capability that helps companies to identify customers, offer products/services and conduct related activities effectively (Porter, 1996) and thus becomes the source of long-term profitability (Barney, 1991; Weill & Broadbent, 1998; Zhu, 2004). For example, as the number of existing and future IT infrastructure services increases, the business value of the infrastructures increases (Broadbent et al., 1999).
Executives are continually facing new and ever changing competitive pressures (e.g., deregulation, globalisation, ubiquitous connectivity, convergence of industries and technologies; Bhatt, 2003). To handle this, they are expected to invest an IT infrastructure that enables the company to scan the environment agilely and provide innovative products/services at low costs (Chung et al., 2003) or business initiatives that may support new types of organizations (e.g., virtual companies; Strader, Lin, & Shaw, 1998; Lee, Eom, Kim, & Katerattanakul, 2007), facilitate electronic commerce through the development of virtual chains (Sawy, Malhotra, Gosain, & Young, 1999) and provide business connectivity and integration (Byrd & Turner, 2001). Going through dynamic changes, maintaining continuity and global competitiveness of business innovation requires a robust IT infrastructure (Broadbent & Weill, 1997; Byrd & Turner, 2001).
As such, IT infrastructure capability is a fundamental differentiator for competitive innovation that depends on how an executive adapts to the environmental changes (Duncan, 1995; McKenney, 1995; Tallon, 2003). Different managerial perceptions give rise to different types of adaptation or innovation managed (Miles & Snow, 1978). Because aligning IT to business (concern for innovation managed) is critical to the competitiveness (Hirschheim & Sabherwal, 2001), the company must be able to provide appropriate IT infrastructure for the corresponding innovation managed (Duncan, 1995; Huang, 2009).